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Aditya Mehta stayed on course for a gold medal in snooker at the ongoing World Games after a hard-fought victory over pre-tournament favourite Joseph Raymond Perry of England in the quarter-finals at the quadrennial event at Cali, Colombia.
India's No 1 snooker player staved off a stiff challenge from the world No 19 before winning 3-2 and setting up a semi-final against Thailand's Dechawat Poomjaeng, who beat another Indian and eight-time World champion Pankaj Advani 3-1 in another quarter-final.
The World Games, first held in 1981, is an international multi-sport event for sports or disciplines not contested in the Olympic Games.
Despite registering a comfortable 3-0 win over Luis Lemus of Guatemala in his first round match, Mehta struggled against the more experienced Perry, who won his first and only ranking tournament at the Yixing Open earlier this year.
Perry took the lead in the tie, winning the first frame quite comfortably before Mehta came back strongly to secure the second and level the issue.
The Englishman again surged ahead by winning the third frame and took a commanding lead in the fourth before Mehta put on display amazing potting skills to clinch it and take the game into the decider.
The Mumbai-based cueist dominated the fifth and final frame, constructing a break of 50 to seal the issue.
Currently ranked 74th in the world, Mehta had won silver and bronze medals at the 2010 Asian Games.
However, there was disappointment in store for India after Advani failed to live up to his billing and lost to Poomjaeng.
The other semi-final will see China's Liang Wenbo take on Brazil's Igor Figueiredo.
Image: Aditya Mehta